Reduced-sodium products currently found in the dairy case may be formulated with any combination of potassium salts such as potassium chloride, potassium citrate, and potassium phosphate. These potassium salts either totally or partially replace their sodium counterparts. One study mentions the usefulness of tripotassium citrate, dipotassium phosphate, and tetrapotassium pyrophosphate in the development of blends of emulsifier salts for reduced-sodium processed cheeses (R. C. Gupta, C. Karahadian, and R. C. Lindsay "Effect of Emulsifier Salts on Textural and Flavor Properties of Processed Cheeses," Journal Dairy Science 67:764-778 (1984)).
A separate study reported an acceptable process American-type cheese containing up to 75% less sodium than traditional process cheeses was manufactured from Cheddar cheese salted with 2.1% Lite Salt (1:1 NaCl/KCl) and an emulsifier system containing tripotassium citrate (1.16%), dipotassium phosphate (0.46%), and trisodium citrate (0.23%). (C. Karahadian and R. C. Lindsay, "Flavor and Textural Properties of Reduced-Sodium Process American Cheeses," J. Dairy Science 67:1892-1904 (1984)). Better acceptability scores were obtained when delta-gluconolactone (0.33%) and enzyme-modified cheese paste (1.86%) were added to enhance the intensity of cheese flavor. Process cheese prepared with unsalted Cheddar had distinctive flavors which detracted from preference scores as compared with those made from lightly salted Cheddar cheese.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,553 discloses a method for producing soft cheese using an insoluble calcium phosphate (CaO/P.sub.2 O.sub.5 ratio from 2.5:1 to 3.1:1) with a beta-tricalcium phosphate content of 50-100% and a specific surface area from 20-80 m.sup.2 /g and average grain size from 1-20 microns. However, this patent does not pertain to reducing the sodium content of the resulting cheese product with the use of the calcium phosphate.